Say It Ain't Joe
I may chime in on this ridiculous notion of benching Rex at some point. For now, those considering sitting this Bears quarterback, I have two words for you:
Bob Avellini.
By the way the wiki article on BO, er, BA is fantastic…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Avellini
Right now I’ve got bigger fish to fry in the sporting world. Although Alex is a Tigers fan, his favorite player of all time – REALLY ALL TIME!..is Joe Crede. How can I prepare this precious 5 year old for the inevitable trade that will send his favorite player, his favorite 3rd baseman, his favorite #24 to another team?
He watches the World Series DVD segment on Crede’s run saving plays at 3rd in the playoffs and WS. He dives on the floor and imitates every catch.
This is not A-Ram (who hasn’t done anything yet – he might this year), or my favorite 3rd baseman growing up, Eric friggin’ Soderholn. He’s so lame I don’t think I can even spell his name.
This is World Series Champion Joe Crede. This is a guy who the organization groomed and became really good at the right time and he looks like a cool third baseman…
And Joe Crede provided Alex with that WOW baseball moment when he hit the Grand Slam last summer to tie the game with the Astros in a midseason World Series rematch.
Ok, midseason World Series rematch doesn’t sound old school…
,butt fuck old school!
Baseball is so cool that it doesn’t have to be old school.
Old school is old school and we dredge it up to pretend we are something that we can no longer be.
Baseball deserves better.
Baseball is better.
It is a human thing, but with a touch of the eternal sprinkled over it.
Nothing happens, nothing happens….your team is down four and struggling at the dish all afternoon
…a hot afternoon like so many in the middle of the season…
suddenly in the late innings you get a gork single, a walk, a hit batsman and…
MAGIC!
It is the moment that makes a baseball fan. Mine was the Fisk home run against the Reds that led to another inevitable World Series ending for the other Sox. I didn’t get to see it live but that’s when I knew baseball was dull like everyday life can be and all of a sudden you can be swept up in emotion that leaves your endorphins gasping for breath.
That is drama to me. You never see it coming. I’ve had some limited action and adventure in my life but what most people call “drama” I call boring.
A bad relationship, heading for a break up…you know where it’s going just let it get there.
Friends who change, drift apart *yawn
Somebody once asked me to explain the drama between the girlfriends of friends of mine. They thought I knew the skinny whatever.
I am the guy who thinks drama is so fucking fucking boring.
By the way, what is more exciting than the drama is the possibility of healing.
I have people I’d like to patch things up with, people I’ve done wrong…doing so and getting to a normal (some say) boring, even-keeled relationship with them – that would be exciting to me.
Forgiveness. That is wondrous. See ChrisB’s post about the Amish.
If you can heal these pains, that’s real magic or a real miracle and more important than baseball moments.
But we were talking about:
Drama = Boring
,and the beauty of the moment that makes you a baseball fan.
a-hem, I divest.
Anyway, Alex had that moment with Joe Crede. He had that moment in person. I saw the boy’s eyes get wide as garbage can lids. I felt his little arms wrap around my neck and pull my head down to his level. I saw him thrust his hands together and scream “Joe! Joe! Joe!” when Crede accepted his curtain call.
We talked about it the whole way home from the Hyde (after he woke up). He crashed on the way to take Miss E back.
We talked about it all the way to the Hillsdale Oasis where we ate Micky Deez and sat next to the window over the toll way.
We talked about it all the way back to DeKalb and until bedtime.
We still talk about it.
He’s modeled his batting stance after Joe Crede.
Incidentally, you can tell that somewhere in Bill Garver’s childhood he had that moment with Rick Monday.
NOT THAT YOU SICK BASTARDS!
We convinced Bill to play whiffle-ball at one of the Squirrel’s cookouts and I swear, he got down and into the Monday crouch-thing. Maybe there was a little Pete Rose in there, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
I’ve got to tell Alex that Joe Crede, the guy who made his baseball moment, his Joe Crede, the one who “hit the glam slam for me”…
….might be traded for a guy named Chone.
Bob Avellini.
By the way the wiki article on BO, er, BA is fantastic…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Avellini
Right now I’ve got bigger fish to fry in the sporting world. Although Alex is a Tigers fan, his favorite player of all time – REALLY ALL TIME!..is Joe Crede. How can I prepare this precious 5 year old for the inevitable trade that will send his favorite player, his favorite 3rd baseman, his favorite #24 to another team?
He watches the World Series DVD segment on Crede’s run saving plays at 3rd in the playoffs and WS. He dives on the floor and imitates every catch.
This is not A-Ram (who hasn’t done anything yet – he might this year), or my favorite 3rd baseman growing up, Eric friggin’ Soderholn. He’s so lame I don’t think I can even spell his name.
This is World Series Champion Joe Crede. This is a guy who the organization groomed and became really good at the right time and he looks like a cool third baseman…
And Joe Crede provided Alex with that WOW baseball moment when he hit the Grand Slam last summer to tie the game with the Astros in a midseason World Series rematch.
Ok, midseason World Series rematch doesn’t sound old school…
,butt fuck old school!
Baseball is so cool that it doesn’t have to be old school.
Old school is old school and we dredge it up to pretend we are something that we can no longer be.
Baseball deserves better.
Baseball is better.
It is a human thing, but with a touch of the eternal sprinkled over it.
Nothing happens, nothing happens….your team is down four and struggling at the dish all afternoon
…a hot afternoon like so many in the middle of the season…
suddenly in the late innings you get a gork single, a walk, a hit batsman and…
MAGIC!
It is the moment that makes a baseball fan. Mine was the Fisk home run against the Reds that led to another inevitable World Series ending for the other Sox. I didn’t get to see it live but that’s when I knew baseball was dull like everyday life can be and all of a sudden you can be swept up in emotion that leaves your endorphins gasping for breath.
That is drama to me. You never see it coming. I’ve had some limited action and adventure in my life but what most people call “drama” I call boring.
A bad relationship, heading for a break up…you know where it’s going just let it get there.
Friends who change, drift apart *yawn
Somebody once asked me to explain the drama between the girlfriends of friends of mine. They thought I knew the skinny whatever.
I am the guy who thinks drama is so fucking fucking boring.
By the way, what is more exciting than the drama is the possibility of healing.
I have people I’d like to patch things up with, people I’ve done wrong…doing so and getting to a normal (some say) boring, even-keeled relationship with them – that would be exciting to me.
Forgiveness. That is wondrous. See ChrisB’s post about the Amish.
If you can heal these pains, that’s real magic or a real miracle and more important than baseball moments.
But we were talking about:
Drama = Boring
,and the beauty of the moment that makes you a baseball fan.
a-hem, I divest.
Anyway, Alex had that moment with Joe Crede. He had that moment in person. I saw the boy’s eyes get wide as garbage can lids. I felt his little arms wrap around my neck and pull my head down to his level. I saw him thrust his hands together and scream “Joe! Joe! Joe!” when Crede accepted his curtain call.
We talked about it the whole way home from the Hyde (after he woke up). He crashed on the way to take Miss E back.
We talked about it all the way to the Hillsdale Oasis where we ate Micky Deez and sat next to the window over the toll way.
We talked about it all the way back to DeKalb and until bedtime.
We still talk about it.
He’s modeled his batting stance after Joe Crede.
Incidentally, you can tell that somewhere in Bill Garver’s childhood he had that moment with Rick Monday.
NOT THAT YOU SICK BASTARDS!
We convinced Bill to play whiffle-ball at one of the Squirrel’s cookouts and I swear, he got down and into the Monday crouch-thing. Maybe there was a little Pete Rose in there, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
I’ve got to tell Alex that Joe Crede, the guy who made his baseball moment, his Joe Crede, the one who “hit the glam slam for me”…
….might be traded for a guy named Chone.
posted by edP | 7:42 PM
15 Comments:
I doubt that deal will happen. I'm still rooting for the Rangers deal myself.
But the bigger question is how do you explain to him the legion of vampires that are sports agents?
That will help me explain why they have to trade Crede. When I describe Borrus the Agent I'll tell Alex "You know what a dragon looks like, don't you son?"
I'd bet William T's batting stance is inspired by Shatner.
When I heard Crede wasn't haven't surgery this offseason, I figured his days with the Sox are numbered.
Reinsdorf's thinking is why pay for surgery on someone you're not going to keep?
My fave 2005 White Sox players, in order (it changes from day to day
1. Frank - because he is the greatest player to the Sox have ever had, like him or not.
2. Iguchi - that play he made against the Red Sox where he threw to third to get the out instead of to first for the easy out was hot dog, but way cool.
3. Crede - the second coming of Brooks Robinson/Robin Ventura combined.
Chone? What did he ever do in the clutch?
I love Crede but the Sox seem pretty high on that Josh guy.
I didn't know Rick Monday had a unique batting stance. My favorite batting stance was Lee May holding the bat above his head and shaking it like a war club.
I remember you used to do that with the orange bat. That bat was sooo cool.
Chone is a very good ballplayer.
Crede makes a lot of mistakes in the field. It's not all nice plays in the big leagues. It's all percentage. And that is where Chone is better. Chone gets on base, steals bases, fields and hits for decent power. The difference between 2005 and 2006 was an unbalanced lineup fo the sox. Plus chone can play anywhere. There might be something else in the works if this happens.
Chone is definitely more like the player Ozzie would like to coach and more like a player KW would like to have
If the Hot Carl Crawford thing was true...look out
By the way Santi, I don't think you've ever told me this - what was your baseball moment? You are one of the biggest baseball fans I know. What made you that way...I showed you mine, you show me yours.
"Fuck old school?"
Fucking new jack!
Technically I said butt fuck old school.
I think that William T was trying to make in his pants.
I'm a rather casual baseball fan these days but there was a time when, as a kid, I was rather hardcore about it. Maybe proof that it never leaves you entirely is that I can still get into it when something gives me cause -- like the '03 Cubs (I see you hissing and crossing your fingers at the vampire that is your computer monitor, EdP). Another thing that got my fungo juices rolling was the McGwire/Sosa homerfest in '98. Sammy embracing Mike when he got the record was priceless. Even the fact of the steroid-drenched fraud that it turned out to be hasn't been enough to make me disregard the game (though some might argue it should be).
But my real baseball moment was the kaleidoscope of moments that was the '75 Series. Talk about timing -- in May '75 my family moved to Cincinnati, just in time to catch the Big Red Machine in its prime. Two of my brothers were already Reds fans because, as little league catchers they were HUGE Johnny Bench fans. Being the tagalong little brother, it was easy for me to latch on when we moved there.
As far as drama goes, I've never known it to be richer in baseball than during those seven games. I vividly remember crowding into the living room with my family night after night, hanging on every pitch. Tony Perez crushing a Luis Tiant looper for a home run in Game One. George Foster throwing a guided missile strike from deep left field to nail a Red Sock at the plate on a sac fly. (And yes, children, the "X" in "Sox" represents "cks." Socks come in pairs -- one is a "sock." Two Red Sox. One Red Sock. Deal with it.)
I also remember that Boston's team was awesome that year. Tiant, Yaz, Darrel Evans . . . and did any team every have two rookies as good as Fred Lynn and Jim Rice?
But the Fisk home run in Game Six never fails to piss me off. First of all, it nearly crushed me as a Reds fan. But more importantly, for all the appropriateness of its place in baseball history, people tend to conveniently forget the fact that the Red Sox LOST the damn series! My great baseball moment came the next night when Joe Morgan's series-winning bloop single to center redeemed us from that arm-waving bastard Fisk. (OK, that's just a figure of speech -- Pudge was truly one of the greats.)
As we watched the locker room celebration on TV, my dad announced that we'd be skipping school the next day to go downtown to the victory parade. Woo-Hoo!
And as for the Red Sox, their utterly unlikely sweep of the Evil Empire after going down 3-0 and subsequent Series sweep was the stuff of legend -- another great baseball moment for me. As a Cubs fan, I could empathize with their joy at finally dissolving their curse -- and dream about ridding ourselves of our own.
***********************************
As to the notion of benching Rex, I can understand how some people feel, but I'm not ready to call on Griese just yet. The Bears ARE 9-2 with Rex. And unlike Kyle Orton, Grossman has actually contributed to those nine wins, whereas the Bears went 13-3 last year DESPITE Orton -- not because of him. Part of having Rex is living with Bad Rex when he rears his ugly head. And he IS still young and not to be unaccompanied by growing pains. Griese is a very capable backup and has some track record to attest to that. Because of this fact, if Rex gets hurt I won't feel panic set in. And if he really keeps stinking the joint up, I have faith that Lovie and Ron will be judicious in pulling the trigger on bringing in BG.
The problem, in my view, is that they're asking Rex to (or letting him) do too much. For all Lovie's "we come off the bus running" banter, they don't run enough. Whether it's TJ or CedBen (and I still think it should be majority CedBen) the Bears need to be as committed to the run as they say they are. A 60/40 tilt to the ground game seems about right to me. Establish the run, get your O-line going downhill into the defense's chinstraps and let the pass be set up by it so Rex can utilize the play action that's his bread and butter. As it is, I see him slinging it downfield a bit too often. I'm not saying to take the deep stuff out of the playbook -- the kid can really sling the pill. I'd just like to see it used a bit more judiciously. If they can get about 20 points a game while chewing the clock, not many teams are gonna beat that killer defense. Play to your strengths. That's all I'm saying.
What's interesting is we picked the same WS...and not that I was a TRed Sox fan - although I think I was rooting for them - I was mostly rooting for more games.
I watched it at my grandpa's and I could stay up later for the games.
I remember at the time thinking that the whole world was watching these moments, as locked in as I was...
Minus the White Sox win - which was obviously huge for me...RedSox Reds...and Dodgers/Yankees a couple years later were great glammer sports events, real high points for baseball in the latter part of the 20th Century...but especially game 6 & 7 of the 75 series. Wholly cow.
I was just one year older than Alex is now and I remember a helluva lot.
One point on Fisk, he lived (and maybe still lives) in LOckport. I met him more than one time but only real talked to him once. I told him what the homer meant to me from Game 6...he looked at me like I was a plate of shit.
Santi'll back me on this because I think he knew Casey (Fisk Jr)...one of my good buddies dated his daughter (and maybe that didn't put m in a good light) but my experience w/ the guy - TOOL.
Ironically, Fisk's reaction to my gushing over his home run hasn't soured the image in my mind. It taught me something about meeting famous people. You really don't know them and can't love them like you can love a real person.
They will never be a real person to you unless they become your friend, coworker, or enemy through real human contact.
In the absence of that - the personhood of famous people doesn't mean shit. If they have affected your life in any way - it is the moment, not the man. What made the thing great was the drama of the home run, not the guy.
It was a good lesson to learn.
More on Rexy later.
edP-see my blog for some baseball stuff.
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